1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a connector and method thereof, more particularly, to a connector and method for supplying both data and power to an electronic device at the same time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable electronic devices, such as mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), and MP3 walkman, have brought modern people a more convenient life. Most of these portable electronic devices can be connected to other electronic apparatus, such as a computer, by a data-transmitting connector to exchange the data. Furthermore, most of these portable electronic devices apply a battery, such as a rechargeable battery, as the power source.
Traditionally, when we want to charge the rechargeable battery of the portable electronic device, we have to use a power connector to electrically connect the portable electronic device with a power source, such as a socket, via a transformer. Furthermore, if we want to exchange the data of the electronic device and recharge the electronic device at the same time, we have to connect the electronic device with both a data-transmitting connector and a power connector. This is highly inconvenient for the users.
Therefore, universal series bus (USB), a new series bus integrated data transmitting function and power supplying function, is established by a number of computer system providers. There are two versions for USB: USB 1.1 has its transmitting speed at 12 Mbps, whereas USB 2.0 has its transmitting speed at 480 Mbps. Because the transmitting speed of USB is significantly higher than the parallel port or serial port of a computer, USB can significantly increase the transmitting efficiency between computer and peripherals.
Because of the advantages that come with USB, such as plug-and-play, hot-plugging, bi-direction transmission, and hi-speed transmission, lots of electronic devices include USB as the necessary connecting interface. USB can transmit data signal and power signal via a cable which contains four main wires, two of which are power wires (VBUS/GND), and the other two are data signal wires (D+/D−). Furthermore, the power wire VBUS can provide 5V direct current, so as to charge the electronic device and exchange data with the electronic device at the same time.
Many applications about charging electronic devices and data-exchanging devices by USB connector have been disclosed. For example, Taiwan Patent Publication No. 479393, entitled “USB auto-charging device and method thereof” disclosed a charging device for charging a battery via USB connector; Taiwan Patent Publication No. M247951, entitled “USB data cable with a programmable power charger for mobile phone”, disclosed a USB data cable with a programmable power charger for data exchanging between a computer and a mobile phone according to different requirements of charging and data exchanging of mobile phones of different brands, and determining whether to charge the mobile phone or not by using a computer program to control the power source; Taiwan Patent Publication No. M288990, entitled “Function-switching connector”, disclosed a connector that can be switch between data transmission and charging.
However, when a user uses the above-mentioned USB device to exchange data between the portable electronic device and recharge the portable electronic device at the same time, problems that have to do with the USB port of the data host, such as a computer with current limitation, often occurred. Sometimes the portable electronic device can not be charged too quickly, otherwise, the battery of the portable electronic device may be damaged by the change of current. Moreover, if the data host, such as a notebook, does not have enough power, charging the portable electronic device will also exhaust the power of the data host.